The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 15

XIV. On the carpet you shall kneel, As the gra.s.s grows in the field; Stand up, stand up upon your feet, And tell me whom you love so sweet.

Now you're married I wish you joy, First a girl, and then a boy; Seven years after son and daughter, Come, young couple, come kiss together.

-Middles.e.x (Miss Winfield).

XV. On the carpet you shall kneel, As the gra.s.s grows in the field; Stand up, stand up on your feet, Show the girl you love so sweet.

Now you're married I hope you'll enjoy A son and a daughter, so Kiss and good-bye.

-Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire (Miss Youngman).

XVI. Down on the carpet you shall kneel, While the gra.s.s grows on your field;[3]

Stand up straight upon your feet, And choose the one you love so sweet.

Marry couple, married in joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years after, seven years come, Please,[4] young couple, kiss and have done.

-Belfast (W. H. Patterson).

XVII. On the carpet you shall kneel, While the gra.s.s grows fresh and green; Stand up straight upon your feet, And kiss the one you love so sweet.

Now they're married, love and joy, First a girl and then a boy; Seven years after, seven years ago, Now's the time to kiss and go.

-Liverpool and neighbourhood (Mrs. Harley).

XVIII. On the carpet you shall kneel, As the gra.s.s grows in the field; Stand up, stand up on your feet, And shew me the girl you love so sweet.

Now Sally's married I hope she'll enjoy, First with a girl and then with a boy; Seven years old and seven years young, Pray, young lady, walk out of your ring.

-Derbyshire (_Folk-lore Journal_, i. 385).

XIX. On the carpet you shall kneel, Where the gra.s.s grows fresh and green; Stand up, stand up on your pretty feet, And show me the one you love so sweet.

-Berrington (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 509).

[Same ending as Eccleshall version.]

XX. On the carpitt you shall kneel, While the gra.s.s grows in the field; Stand up, stand up on your feet, Pick the one you love so sweet.

-Wakefield, Yorks. (Miss Fowler).

XXI. King William was King David's son, And all the royal race is run; Choose from the east, choose from the west, Choose the one you love the best.[5]

Down on this carpet you shall kneel, While the gra.s.s grows in yond field; Salute your bride and kiss her sweet, Rise again upon your feet.

-Hanging Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy).

XXII. On the carpet you shall kneel, while the gra.s.s grows at your feet; Stand up straight upon your feet, and choose the one you love so sweet.

Now Sally is married, life and joy, first a girl and then a boy; Seven years after, seven years ago, three on the carpet, kiss and go.

-Hanbury, Staffordshire (Miss Edith Hollis).

XXIII. I had a bonnet trimmed wi' blue.

Why dosn't weare it? Zo I do; I'd weare it where I con, To teake a walk wi' my young mon.

My young mon is a-gone to sea, When he'd come back he'll marry me.

Zee what a purty zister is mine, Doan't 'e think she's ter'ble fine?

She's a most ter'ble cunnen too, Just zee what my zister can do.

On the carpet she can kneel, As the gra.s.s grow in the fiel'.

Stand upright upon thy feet, And choose the prettiest you like, sweet.

-Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset (_Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 208).

XXIV. Kneel down on the carpets, we shall kneel; The gra.s.s grows away in yonder fiel', Stand up, stand up upon your feet, And show me the one you love so sweet.

Now they get married, I wish they may joy Every year a girl or a boy; Loving together like sister and brother, Now they are coupled to kiss together.

-Galloway, N.B. (J. G. Carter).

(_c_) This game is played in the same way in all the different variants I have given, except a slight addition in the Suffolk (Mrs. Haddon). A ring is formed by the children joining hands-one child stands in the centre. The ring dances or moves slowly round, singing the verses. The child in the centre kneels down when the words are sung, rises and chooses a partner from the ring, kisses her when so commanded, and then takes a place in the ring, leaving the other child in the centre. In those cases where the marriage formula is not given, the kissing would probably be omitted.

(_d_) Of the twenty-four versions given there are not two alike, and this game is distinguished from all others by the singular diversity of its variants; although the original structure of the verses has been preserved to some extent, they seem to have been the sport of the inventive faculty of each different set of players. Lines have been added, left out, and altered in every direction, and in the example from Hazelbury Bryan, in Dorsetshire (No. xxiii.), a portion of an old song or ballad has been added to the game rhyme. These alterations occur not only in different counties, but in the same counties, as may be seen by the Dorset, Hants, Staffordshire, and Northants examples. Mr. Carter says of the Galloway game that the kissing match sometimes degenerates into a spitting match, according to the temper of the parties concerned.

In the Suffolk version (Mrs. Haddon), at the words "Lean across the water," the two in the centre lean over the arms of those forming the ring. These words and action are probably an addition. They belong to the "Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear" game.

These peculiar characteristics of the game do not permit of much investigation into the original words of the game-rhyme, but they serve to ill.u.s.trate, in a very forcible manner, the exactly opposite characteristics of nearly all the other games, which preserve, in almost stereotyped fashion, the words of the rhymes. It appears most probable that the verses belonged originally to some independent game like "Sally, Sally Water," and that, when divorced from their original context, they lent themselves to the various changes which have been made. The minute application of modern ideas is seen in the version from Gambledown, where "A bottle of wine and a guinea, too," becomes "A bottle of wine and a biscuit, too;" and at West Haddon, in Northamptonshire, a variant of the marriage formula is given in _Northants Notes and Queries_, ii. 106, as-

Now you're married, we wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Cups and saucers, sons and daughters, Now join hands and kiss one another.

Another version from Long Itchington, given in _Notes and Queries_, 7th series, x. 450, concludes with-

Up the kitchen and down the hall, Choose the fairest of them all; Seven years now and seven years then, Kiss poor Sally and part again.

[2] Matron is _not_ a word in common use among Lancashire people.

[3] _d_ not sounded.

[4] Another version has "pree," which means in Scotch, _taste_, hence _kiss_.

[5] At Earls Heaton two verses or lines are added, viz.:-

"If she is not here to take her part, Choose another with all your heart."

Pretty Miss Pink

Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out, Will you come out, will you come out?

Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out, To see the ladies dancing?

No, I won't.

Pretty Miss Pink, she won't come out, Won't come out, won't come out, &c.

She will come out.